Sanskrit
द्यूतं छलयतामस्मि तेजस्तेजस्विनामहम् । जयोऽस्मि व्यवसायोऽस्मि सत्त्वं सत्त्ववतामहम् ॥ ३६ ॥
dyūtaṃ chalayatām asmi tejas tejasvinām aham jayo'smi vyavasāyo'smi sattvaṃ sattvavatām aham
Translation
I am the gambling of the cheat, and the splendour of splendid things I; I am victory, I am determination, and the truth of the truthful I.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
An unusual, almost provocative choice: “the gambling of the cheat” is claimed as a vibhuti, immediately followed by victory, resolve, and the essence of the truthful. Placing deception alongside virtue this bluntly repeats verses 4-5’s earlier move — the list isn’t confined to admirable qualities, it claims the full moral range including its shadow side. Dyūtaṃ chalayatām — “the gambling of cheats” — is the list’s starkest claim on its own shadow side, in the same breath as sattvaṃ sattvavatām, the goodness of the good. Nothing potent is disowned. (The dice-game is also what cost the Pāṇḍavas their kingdom.)
Study deeper
Word by word
- dyūtaṃ chalayatām asmiद्यूतं छलयतां अस्मि
- among deceivers I am gambling (dyūtam + chalayatām + asmi)
- tejas tejasvinām ahamतेजस् तेजस्विनां अहं
- I am the splendour of the splendid (tejaḥ + tejasvinām + aham)
- jayo'smi vyavasāyo'smiजयोऽस्मि व्यवसायोऽस्मि
- I am victory, I am resolve (jayaḥ + asmi + vyavasāyaḥ + asmi)
- sattvaṃ sattvavatām ahamसत्त्वं सत्त्ववतां अहं
- I am the goodness of the good (sattvam + sattvavatām + aham)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Victory and vyavasāya, the resolve that precedes and produces it, are named back to back with identical grammatical weight — jayo’smi vyavasāyo’smi, no clause dividing them. The verse doesn’t rank the outcome above the effort that earned it, or the reverse; it claims both with the same breath, refusing to let one eclipse the other.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Don't let winning eclipse the resolve that actually produced it in your own accounting of what mattered — credit the effort behind a result with the same weight you give the result itself, especially when no one else will notice the effort.
Professional
- When a project succeeds, name the process and resolve that produced it with the same weight you give the outcome in the retro — a team that only celebrates the win learns nothing repeatable about how it got there.
Family & Social
- When celebrating a shared win with family, name the effort that got you there with the same weight as the win itself — the outcome fades quickly, but naming the resolve behind it teaches what to repeat next time.
Ask yourself
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